As the 2023 Formula 1 season came to a close, it was no surprise that Max Verstappen would continue his dominance with Redbull and win another championship. Other than that, the 2023 season had a lot to offer from controversy to overtakes that had many people on the edge of their couches. Instead of generalizing all of the races, let’s dive into the highlights and why this 2023 season was a blast to watch.
Starting off, let’s talk about the constructors’ standings for this season. Haas sits on the bottom of the 9 other teams with 12 points, Alfa Romeo sits in 9th place with 16 points, Alphatauri is in 8th with 25 points, Williams in 7th with 28 points with a large contribution from Alexander Albon, Renault sitting in 6th place with 120 points, Aston Martin with 280, McLaren with 302, Ferrari with 406 points, Mercedes with 409 points, and RedBull with a whopping 860 points thanks to the dominance of Max Verstappen and the 285 points from Sergio Perez. Speaking of drivers, there’s a new driver racing for Williams in the name of Logan Sargeant. The American had a rather quiet rookie season scoring an astonishing single point for Williams Racing team with his teammate Alex Albon scoring 27 points. If you’ve watched many of the races this season, you would know that Max Verstappen had the most dominant season in F1 history thanks to his driving skills and the RB19. Verstappen has scored a whopping 575 points with 19 wins out of the 22 races of the season along with 21 podiums. To put things into perspective, the runner up team Mercedes has only 285 points total for both 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russel.
The newest track of the F1 calendar is located in Las Vegas. This odd looking track is said by many fans to resemble an upside-down pig which is funny. But with a brand new track, comes brand new controversies. To start things off, tickets for the race were off the charts starting at $1169 before fees for the grandstand section. The track conditions almost set a new record for the coldest Formula 1 track of all time which is 55 degrees Fahrenheit or 13 degrees Celsius. The coldest track on record being the 1978 Canadian GP with the temperatures being as low as 41 degrees Fahrenheit or 5 degrees Celsius. To add to the Las Vegas hate train, many fans didn’t like the amount of glitz, glamor, and partying as the drivers were introduced days before the race started. When Free Practice 1 started, The Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz was slapped in the face with a 10-place grid penalty through no fault of his own after a drain cover came loose as Sainz drove over it, wrecking his car and sending sparks in every direction. To make this Grand Prix even more amusing to the average Formula 1 enjoyer, Charles Leclerc managed to clinch pole position in qualifying only to lose the place to everyone’s favorite Dutch driver, Max Verstappen.
Finally, there have been many rumors that Audi will join the grid in the 2026 season through a joint partnership with Sauber. Many fans, including myself are eagerly looking forward to this as there will be many new engine regulations to add to the plenty of controversies of Formula 1.
Since the season has come to a close, there are many alternatives to help fulfill your emptiness for the pinnacle of motorsport. You can watch old races on YouTube or even Hulu if you have them recorded, go on Netflix and watch the Formula 1: Drive to Survive series which turns F1 into a drama, or you can go out to your local go-karting place and think that you’re Michael Schumacher on the track. The 2024 Formula Season is expected to start on February 29 with 24 races on the calendar. Along with the few changes in the 2024 season, could Red Bull recreate their dominance from the latest season or even make their season even better, or will Lewis Hamilton finally have his 8th championship?
